The story of us
by CandyCupcake
Summary: Elena and Damon meet at College and fall in love, even though they shouldn t. An all human Delena fanfic, not sure yet if It will be M or T. Please check it out, I still suck at summarys but I promise the story is better than it sounds;) Well, Delena love story!
1. The time of my life

_**The ****story ****of ****us**_

_What´s up dear community? I lately felt the urgent need to write a new Delena fanfic, so I´ll just try and write it down and if you guys like it, then I´ll keep uploading. So just review and tell me what kind of story you´d like to hear, because I really want this story to please all of you – if possible ;)_

_A little bit about what I´ve planed already: ALL human, of course with the TVD names and it starts with Elena starting her first year in college…_

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**Chapter 1. The time of my life:**

"Beeeeep" - "Elena where are you? This is the fourth time I´m calling you, what on earth is going on? You should have been here since 3 hours, we have to leave, NOW!"

A loud sigh escaped Elena´s lips. Caroline was right, they should have been going long ago. Why did all of this crap happen today?! Today, on their first day of college, the day she had been waiting for since she started high school four years ago. As she felt the tears running down her cheeks again she stood up abrupt. This stupid crying had to stop immediately!

Twenty minutes she finally arrived at Caroline´s house. Elena stepped onto the front porch trying not to step on one of the huge bags and suitcases that were laying there. "You better have a _really_ good excuse Elena Gilbert! This is supposed to be the most exciting and amazing day of our life and because of you we will miss most of it!"

Caroline furiously walked towards her and for a moment she looked like she would slap her in the face right away, but when she saw Elena´s red, swollen eyes her angriness faded away. "What happened to you? Are you all right?" Elena forced herself to smile as convincing as possible. "I´m ok, don´t worry. I´m so sorry that I didn´t come earlier but I´ll tell you later what happened. Now we should get going I guess." Caroline nodded and together they started to pack all of the stuff on the porch in Elena´s car.

"How did you even have enough suitcases for all of these things? You packed like what, ten times as much as I did?!" Elena laughed after they had finally left Mystic Falls behind them. It felt surprisingly good to be out of there, even if it meant leaving their families behind.

"So will you tell me now why you were so upset earlier? Does has something to do with Stefan?" Caroline asked her curiously. "I mean it´s alright if you don´t want to talk about it but you really didn´t look so happy! And you should be since it is the first day of our college life which will be so absolutely perfect that we might not even survive it!" The last sentence came out as loud scream as Caroline squeezed her arm overly excited.

"Slow down Care," Elena chuckled "You´re right it is about Stefan. I met with him yesterday to say goodbye and, well he told me that he thinks he can´t do this." God, now the tears were running again, this was so embarrassing. "Hey, El, don´t cry, what did he say he couldn´t do?" Caroline rubbed her arm and looked at her, worried. "He said he could not do the long distance relationship. He doesn´t think it would work. But I don´t wanna loose him Care! I just can´t lose him."

"Oh honey I´m so sorry! But how can this jerk do this to you? And that now, when he is supposed to support you more than anything! Maybe he´s just scared that at college you might find a superhot guy and cheat on him, while he is hundreds of miles away and can´t do anything about it."

Elena leaned her head against Caroline´s shoulder and sighed. "You have no idea how happy I am to have you with me Care!" She saw her friend´s smile in the mirror of the car and while Caroline drove them down the highway Elena´s thoughts drifted off to her boyfriend – or ex-boyfriend now! They had met at school and immediately got along great. At first they had only studied together for tests, then met once, twice and at the school dance he had asked her to be his girlfriend. Stefan had always been perfect.

He brought her flowers, never hurt her, they could talk for hours, and he had always comforted her when she was sad but also respected her if she needed some time for herself. There had not been one second that she would have doubted his love for her. But if he really loved her, how did he just break up so easily? She had started to cry immediately after he told her to quit their relationship. He told her, he was sorry but when she ran away towards the door to leave his house, he didn´t follow her. Didn´t even try to.

She had cried all night, thinking about him, their time together and over and over if she had done anything wrong, if maybe it was her fault that he had made this decision. Caroline and her had agreed that Elena would pick Caroline up at 12 in the morning to drive to their College and attend the party that would be thrown there. But in the morning all she could think about was the horrible ache in her chest.

Now, she regretted not having said goodbye to her little brother Jeremy and her aunt Jenna properly. Their goodbye was too quick and totally different than planned since she had to hurry getting to Caroline´s.

"Hey dreamy, look, I can already see the college flag! Right over there, can you see it Elena?!" Caroline´s high pitched voice got her out of her thoughts abruptly and as she pointed out of the window to a yellow flag not far away. Now Elena got excited as well. The beautiful buildings, huge and white, all surrounded by a colorful little forest and even a small river. It looked absolutely amazing!

"I can´t believe we are really here! Look at all of those people; we are actually a part of all of this! This is just incredibly!" Caroline started bouncing up and down in her car seat like a little child. After they finally found a parking spot a young men came and helped them to get all of their stuff on one of the baggage cars. For a few seconds the two girls just stood there stunned by the sight. In front of them there was a huge bonfire and everywhere people who were laughing, drinking and talking. Two half naked men stood on a little stage and where singing some silly song until a professor came and took their microphone away. After that both just kept singing, not even hitting a single note.

Caroline grabbed two drinks, gave one to Elena and then they went right into the fun.

A couple of hours later she was lying in their beds trying to sleep. It was long after midnight and all of her thoughts were just messing around in her head. There had been loads of great people, one girl from Texas, Bonnie was her name, was really nice and then there were two boy´s named Tyler and Klaus who seemed to be fun as well.

Caroline was snoring peacefully in the bed at the other side of the room. It somehow was calming down. And she was so damn tired. Before Elena completely drifted off to sleep she silently cursed Stefan one last time for trying to ruin this for her. But she wouldn´t let him do that. Hell no! She would have the absolute best time of her time and that without him!

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_Sooo, done with the first chapter. Hope you all enjoyed! Please excuse any mistakes in spelling/wrong tenses since English isn´t my mother language. I´m sorry that Damon didn´t already really show up but, I he they have already seen him, even if that might sound a little confusing (hihi, I´ll explain in the next chapter) How do you like my idea to take some of our friends from MF to college? Good or not? Now my beloved readers, review please! _


	2. Night out

_Here I am again! Thanks a lot for the reviewers! Now have fun reading ;)_

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**_Chapter 2. Night out_**

_Dear Jenna, Dear Jeremy,_

_How are you doing? I´m so, so sorry for not saying a proper goodbye to you when I left last week. But I just hope you understood that with all that was going on the day before, I just didn´t realize how much of a difference it would be without you! Now it´s my 9__th__ day here in College, I already chose my courses and made some new friends. Caroline is more than ever the most positive person I´ve ever met and I think she already got the entire college community as her Facebook friends, twitter follower and whatever else ;) _

_(Jenna, you would love it here, too! Beautiful nature, nice and cute little rooms and the best library I´ve ever been to in my entire life! What is Alaric doing? Did you two finally take it to the next level and actually went on a day or is it still "awkwardly talking/grown-ups behave like teenagers? He likes you, everyone knows that and you like him! Please just give him a chance!)_

_Are you two missing me a lot? Cause I miss you a lot – well whenever I have a little 3 and a half minute break between Caroline telling me about her new, superhot professor, reading one of the 2031 Books on the list MY (not so superhot) professor gave us and being stuck in some history essay I have to write for the same guy yeah, between those little breaks I think about you a lot. And yes, you´ve heard right, history teacher. I actually can´t believe it myself, that I took history as one of my masters! I can still remember how awful I was two years ago in that subject, but since I started to study with Stefan it changed in all….._

Yes, Stefan. Damn it! Now, finally after managing not to think about him for more than half a day, there he was again!

Elena angrily trashed the letter together in her hands and threw it into the bin next to her desk. It was Friday afternoon; she had been reading "the prince" by Niccolo Machiavelli all morning and now decided to write a letter to her family. But every time she was trying to do so Stefan crossed her mind and ruined it. How did he even manage to do that from so far away!? "I give up! This is just hopeless!" She said to herself, burying her head in her hands.

"Nothing is allowed to be hopeless today sweetie! Today is our first weekend on campus, and we´re going to take full advantage of it, so stop complaining and we are going to go to the town and find some good place to have some fun tonight!" Caroline burst into the room and didn´t even let Elena try to say something against that. Together the two of them took their car and started to drive towards the little town that was about twenty minutes away, just behind the woods. "There was this guy yesterday, he tried to flirt with me, I think his name was Toby or Tony or something like that. Not so hot but kind of cute! Well, anyway, he told me about this place in town were the older college students in the higher semesters meet at the weekend and that´s exactly what we need. We are gonna find some hot nearly done with college law student and maybe make out a little, have some drinks and you will finally forget about "Whose name isn´t allowed to be mentioned"!

"Alright Care, I´ll try to, but I´m really not so sure about the making out thing! For that it´s really too early! And I´m sure that _you_ are absolutely desperate to meet some of the older guys but why exactly do you think that they are even half as eager to meet US? I´m sorry to disappoint you, but we´re not in Mystic Falls anymore, here we are not the all popular cheerleader girls, in high school every little freshman might have had you as an idol but here, we are nobody. Has hard as it will be, we can´t just act like the status we had back home would still exist here. We have to start completely from the bottom, if you like it or not!" Elena tried to convince her friend, but Caroline just laughed and shook her head:

"As hard as you might try, you won´t be able to stop me, I´m sure it will be simply awesome!" And with that they went on until finally finding a little bar outside of the town. It was dark and loud inside, loads of young college students were dancing to house and rap music, there were so many lights and colors, and it was really much more of a disco than a simple bar. Caroline had already head up into the center of action, she had been right – of course there was already a crowd of 3 or 4 guys who were all laughing at her jokes and tried to offer her drinks. And she was totally enjoying it!

Not entirely sure what to do Elena just went to the bar counter and watched all of the people of whom she didn´t know a single one. Well – not really nobody! The guy sitting in the barstool next to her seemed strangely familiar to her. Elena was pretty sure that she had seen him before – but where!?

Suddenly the man realized that she was staring at him and turned around a little, so that they were face to face. He was handsome, black, messy hair, a great body and all but most fascinating were his eyes. They were so light blue and intense that it almost looked like frozen ice. And then realization hit her; this was the guy from the first day party last week, one of the two dudes who had been singing so bad (and half naked) on the college stage!

"Do I have something between my teeth?" He asked out of the sudden, abruptly pulling her out of her thoughts. "What?" she responded dumbly, not realizing what he just said. "You´ve been staring at me so I wondered if there might be something between my teeth or something." She shook her head and blushed as his smile grew even wider. "No, no, I´m sorry" she stuttered awkwardly. "I didn´t mean to, I just were trying to figure out from where I know you. But sorry again!"

The young man chuckled and held his hand towards her: "Don´t worry, I´m pleased you even recognize me when I´m fully dressed! I´m Damon by the way, Damon Salvatore. And you are Blondie´s friend right? I met her a few days ago at the party and she told me about where you two come from. She even told me your name but since I´ve never actually met you in person I´ve forgot. Would you remind me?" "Of course, I´m Elena Gilbert and yea, I´m am indeed Blondie´s friend – just that I don´t think she would like that nickname too much!" She smiled at him and shook his hand. "Well, she never has to know, right? And she was so drooling all over me, that I actually think she´d feel honored!"

"So _Elena_, what are you studying at College? Are you one of those crazy art students who have been trying to persuade me to allow them to paint my wall all week? No, don´t answer, you don´t look like them, but what about, mmhh, Sport? You have a great body, that would be an explanation for that!" Hell that guy didn´t even try to make the flirting not so obvious! Normally she would have been angry at any a boy did that, but she could see that he wasn´t really serious. So she decided to just roll her eyes and play along: "No, silly, I have got history and English as my masters. But thanks for the compliment, same to you!" He smirked casually and rolled his eyes, just like she had done (but he obviously had more practice in doing that!) "Ok, let´s stop with being all awkward and silly and go dancing! I mean we sure have to make sure that your body doesn´t get ruined with all the fast food you will eat here at college, far away from mommy and daddy who can´t see anything!" "You are telling that I should dance with you so I don´t get fat? Seriously?!" He didn´t even bother to answer, he just grabbed her hands and guided them between all the other dancers.

At first there were only hot rhythms, where no body contact was necessary, but after a while the music changed to a slow song. When the singer started Damon looked straight into her eyes and grinned: "Shall we, or are you too scared of a little clumsy, cheesy all American "romantic dance session"?" She met his gaze and saw that he dared her. But she wouldn´t give him the satisfaction to step away now. And – what was the worst thing that could happen? This didn´t have to mean anything, it was just one single dance, no need to worry! So Elena smiled back and took his hand. "Let´s get it one!" He immediately pulled her closer to him, until her body nearly touched his chest.

Every breath you take,

Every move you make,

Every bond you break,

Every word you say,

I´ll be watching you!

While The Police sang they moved closer and closer, and then Elena´s upper body finally touched his. It sent Goosebumps all over her body. They were both a little shocked, but didn´t move apart. He was so warm and she could feel his muscles under his shirt. It felt incredible good. Damon carefully moved his hand a little further up so that his arm was entirely wrapped around the middle of her back. He seemed to be worried she´d push him away, but instead Elena leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes.

Every single day,

Every word you say,

Every game you play,

Every night you stay,

I´ll be watching you!

Oh can´t you see,

You belong to me!

When the song ended the kept holding each other close for a few more seconds before slowly letting go. Her entire body immediately started aching because of the lack of contact. She missed his warmth. He looked at her, hypnotized, and then cleared his throat: "Well, thank you very much for the dance Ms. Gilbert; it was a pleasure to meet you. I hope I´ll see you again soon!" And with that he was gone, left her alone between all of the other people.

Then someone shook her and she saw Caroline´s face in front of her. "Heeeelllooo! Earth calling Elena! We gotta go before I´m too drunk to drive anymore. And your look is telling me that you are currently not in any condition to even face a car ether, am I right?!" Elena just nodded.

What had he done to her? She was somehow paralyzed; shocked that she had allowed that to happen. She had only been single for 9 days and already done dirty dancing with some guy she met _at a bar_! This was so not her, at least not who she thought she was! But then again it had felt so right! She couldn´t really remember the last time it had felt like that with Stefan… And when it felt so good, maybe it couldn´t be too bad after all, right?

_I hope I´ll see you again soon_

"Yes Damon Salvatore, I hope so, too" Elena whispered smiling and followed Caroline outside

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_Yeah, I wrote more than 2000 words! That's a record for me! I told you Elena already met Damon and I guess it was kind of obvious but however! Now some questions to all of YOU guys:_

_How was your college life, what was the funniest/best/worst thing that happened to you there? Because I´m only in high school I don´t know much about college life and I´m trying to do this as realistic as possible! So please write a review or PM me!_

_Do you think my song choice was a good one? – For everyone who doesn´t know already, it was "Every breath you take" by the police…._

_What is YOUR favorite Delena moment in TVD?_

_Tell me and (again, - I know) review please, it would mean so much to me! I´m counting on all of you!_


	3. Surprise visits

_Hi again, now, I hope I answered everyone who reviewed, followed or favorited me and that you all know just how much I appreciated it! There are two reviews I want to say something to; unfortunately they were both guest reviewers, so I couldn´t get to them personally. 1, this is NOT a student/teacher relationship, I´m sorry maybe it wasn´t clear enough but Damon and Elena are both students, Elena in her first, Damon in his third year of college. 2, I really tried it, but couldn´t find the story you mentioned! It´s sad that you don´t like the name of my story, but there is only ONE more Delena story on Fanfiction that has the same name, and you cannot have meant that one, because there are LOADS that are more popular! But however, here´s number three:_

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**Chapter 3. Surprise visits:**

"**Virginia State University ****-**** Library****"**

The sign on top of the old brick building was a little dirty, the "I"s were pretty much gone but at least they had some good stuff there! Elena were in the back of the Library, after coming here nearly every single day she had found a cozy little corner all for herself there and forgot about the world around her completely. As boring as their history teacher was, she had to admit that his book taste was absolutely excellent. She was so caught up in the short story they were supposed to read that she had a really hard time to stop every few pages to be able to write down some notes.

Then, out of the sudden she heard a loud whistle. And screams. But not the girly "We´ve just seen Zach Efron aaahhhhhh" kind of scream, no, it were definitely boys, and they just wouldn´t stop making these annoying sounds! Elena waited five more minutes for it to end. But no, they shouted even louder by now! Angrily she stood up from the floor and walked toward one of the huge Glass windows. There on the sports field were 5 boys.

All, shirtless, all good looking and all somehow able to do sit ups while talking (or rather screaming) to each other. And then she saw him. His raven black hair even messier than last time and sweat drops starting to run down his forehead. Elena didn´t manage to look away from him. The last time she had seen him half naked they were strangers, and there had been so much going on that day. But today was different.

She let her gaze travel further and further down, to his chest. 2 weeks ago she had felt his muscles during their dance, his tight and strong body. And now she was able to see what she had felt. He had a perfect six-pack, not too many abs, not this kind of body builder type. No, Damon had more of a "this is a question of genes, babe!" type of body.

Immediately started wondering how it would feel to let her fingers wander over that of him, to touch him and feel his naked chest against her body. A soft sigh escaped her lips at the thought of that. The evening they had spent together had been stuck in her mind since then. But she hadn´t seen him anywhere and was not at all eager to just try and contact him herself. Damon definitely made a clearly strong impression on her, but who said he felt in any possible way equally about her!?

"Stop" Elena scolded herself and shook her head. This was stupid; she was 18 years old and not 14! Her behavior had been ridiculous lately when it came to this man and she had to finally end it! She had only seen him for the third right now and already imagined to get dirty with him, how was that supposed to be normal, grown up behavior!? After all she wasn´t Caroline!

Before she´d be able to get stuck in the sight again, Elena hurried to pack her stuff together and hastily went out of Library and jogged over the little park in front of the dorm buildings, up the stairs until she finally opened her apartment door – breathless by now.

"You alright?" Caroline asked her, raising her eyebrows. "Yep, completely just" Elena took a deep breath "just ran a little" Now her friend rolled her eyes at the obvious and concentrated back on the study work she had been working on before.

Elena just let herself fall onto her bed and tried to get her breathing back to normal. So Damon was indeed studying sports, for what other reason should 5 men with amazing body´s be out on the sports field and practicing their (probably) daily routine of "Let´s get even more muscles than we already have and – as a bonus – let the whole campus watch us doing so!" ?

That wasn't some football or baseball training for sure! Too less people and also, (even though that might not even be reasonable!), she couldn´t picture Damon Salvatore doing team sports like that, he was too much of a cocky joke teller and on the other hand those football guys were so obsessed with their games and so on that they would never leave them entirely out of their conversations while he didn´t mention any of that kind of stuff at all.

"Actually I guess Caroline would be proud of me if I´d tell her I was crazy about some superhot, smartass sports student I met _at a bar_!" Elena thought. But she couldn´t tell her, if she did, her friend wouldn´t stop talking about that until Elena would take the courage to finally get a move on and speak with him. – Well, or until she´d be going mad and knock her off with that damn "Miss Mystic Award" Caroline had hung up upon her bed! Sometimes that girl really had a nerve…

The worst was, Caroline would even be mainly right in doing so! After all he had told her he wanted to see her again, so what was it that made her so stupidly shy!

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The next day Elena was back at her now familiar corner in the Library. But this time she could hardly concentrate. The whole time she imagined Damon outside on the sports field. If she could only repeat yesterday´s actions. She was nothing but a childish fool for not talking to him! Totally she´d be doing so much better if she would only have the chance to do it all over again.

"Honey, is everything ok with you?"

She suddenly heard a voice close to her. Elena looked up and saw an elderly woman gazing down on her concerned.

"Of course, everything´s great, I was just a little bit caught up in my thoughts…"

"Well, first semester can be extremely stressful! Maybe you don´t believe me because my own college time was … yeah to admit it _a loooong time ago_ but I can promise you, it´ll get better in a while!"

The lady smiled at her and Elena stood up to shake the woman´s hand. "I appreciate that! My name is Elena." The strong grip of the woman surprised her.

"I´m Mrs. Gerald. I´ve seen you coming you here quit a lot. And from what you have been reading I´d guess you are definitely and eager history student!" "That´s right, I am and sorry that I didn´t recognized you, you must be the library´s secretary?"

"Exactly, since over 30 years now. Pretty much every one of the library heads want me to go to retirement, but I´m having way too much fun teasing them with being perfectly healthy, fit and not even half as crazy as they think I am!"

She winked at Elena and continued: "But I originally came to you to ask you something. I really don´t want to take even more of your time away, but could you maybe do me a favor? There is this young gentlemen who borrowed a few books from here and no matter how many letters I keep sending him to his dorm room, he just doesn´t bring them back. So I thought, maybe a visit from such a pretty young Lady like you could convince him to finally return my books!"

Elena softly chuckled and answered: "Of course, and – ähm well, thanks! If you give me his room number, I´ll go right now and talk to him."

"That is very kind of you darling! I´d do it myself but you know, these bones don´t really adore those crazy stairs in the dorm buildings of yours!"

"Tell me about it!" Elena grinned, thinking of yesterday…

Mrs. Gordon gave her the number and sent her away with a list of her "Book suggestions"! This woman would totally make an amazing grandmother!

"Room 293" Elena read on the black door. This was the apartment. She knocked, at first a little unsure but when no one opened with more force.

Then she heard footsteps coming closer and the door opened slowly.

And there he stood, smirking and raising his eyebrows in surprise: "Hi Elena, nice of you to give me a visit, I knew you´d miss me!"

"Damon" She was somehow speechless. He was the last person she had been expecting. But he looked (apart from _freaking hot_) happy to see her.

So she tried her best to pull herself together and smiled back; "Sorry to disappoint you and your ego but I´m just here to collect some books you didn´t give back to the library! But" she took a deep breath and looked him right into the eyes, "It´s nice to see you, too."

His smirk got even bigger and he took a step back and made a gesture to invite her in his room. She did and what she saw surprised her. She had imagined his apartment to be a mess like most boy´s dorms were. But no, the opposite was the case! It was perfectly tidy and clean.

On one of the beds sat another guy, ear pods in his ears and clearly not interested in saying hello to her, until Damon ripped them off and gave him a little nudge.

"Hey, try to behave like gentleman and say hello to my dear friend Elena here!" He pointed at her but his roommate just looked at her once, muttered a "Hello" and then looked back at Damon.

"What does she want? Is that the girl you´ve been talking about?" "Alright, you´re hopeless dude! She wants those books back, you know the ones from the library!"

After cursing loudly the guy got up and pulled out one of the boxes under his bed. "Here" he said and gave a bright blue plastic box to Elena. Then he went back to his ipod and closed his eyes.

Damon gave him a death glare and pointed at the door, "Let´s get out of here, he´s driving me insane!" With that they both went out of the room and quietly down the stairs until they reached the front door of the dorm building.

* * *

"So _you _were the one missing _me_!" Elena smiled and turned to face him. _"Oh my gosh!"_ she thought as he blushed a little.

"Well, I guess I can´t really deny it, can I? But at least tell me you thought about me, too! Otherwise this would be an extremely awkward moment for me!"

This time he was the one looking at her with an intensity that sent Goosebumps all over her arms.

"Yes I did. I … I really wanted to see you again" She confessed shyly.

Damon looked at her and then slowly raised one hand and brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I wish I could have stayed longer that night, but I saw your friend Blondie show up and thought I´d better leave. But maybe we could, you know give it another shot and go somewhere, just the two of us? I´d like to get to know you Elena Gilbert. You know, normally I don´t immediately suggest a date after only having met a person once but, I, I really liked to spent time with you, so why not?"

He was still playing with her hair and it was completely enough to make Elena speechless. She cleared her throat and tried to clear her brain as well. _Why didn´t he just kiss her, damn it!_

"Elena? Did you listen to what I just said? If you don´t want to go on a date with me, just tell me! I just thought.." "No, Damon!" she interrupted him quickly "I want to. Actually I would love to go on a date with you!"

He sighed in relief and then his hand went away from her hair and instead went to cup her cheek. Damon softly stroked it with his thumb and let his gaze travel over her face. "Good" he said and continued to completely raise every sane thought from her mind with his touch.

"Are you gonna kiss me or what?" Elena whispered and looked at him with big eyes and a shaky voice. But he just shook his head and smiled at her.

"No, not right now. I promise you, I will! But I really want to do this right, ok?" She nodded slightly but when he got up from the bench where they had been sitting she pouted: "Please, where are you going Damon? Don´t leave!" He stroked her cheek once again and sadly explained: "I wish I could stay but I have to take care of a few things. But if that´s ok with you I´ll get you tomorrow at 8 o´clock and we go on that date I promised you."

"Alright. And don´t be late!" She told him playfully and he smirked again.

And then he leaned forward and kissed her cheek. Elena closed her eyes and sighed when he removed his lips from her skin. "See you tomorrow Elena" He whispered into her ear, tickling her soft skin with his hot breath. "mhhhhmm" She answered and then watched him walking back to one of the buildings.

After she was able to feel her legs again she went back to her room as well. This time Caroline looked at her somehow – confused.

"Did you take something Elena? You look weird! Like you hypnotized or so?" Elena just giggled and grinned at her friend, which made Caroline watch her even more concerned.

"Don´t worry Care, you know I don´t do drugs. I just have a date with Damon Salvatore, that´s all!"

"You gotta be kidding me! You seriously have a date with Damon fucking Salvatore! Girl, I´ll kill you! How on earth did you do that!?" Caroline´s face made Elena giggle even more and she didn´t even bother to explain how that could happen.

Then her phone rang and interrupted her laugh. "You have 2 new voice mails." It said and Elena pushed the play button. "First voice message; Today; peeeeeppp: "Hi Elena sweetie. Here is Jenna. How is college going? Are you having loads of fun? We miss you, Love from Mystic Falls" Second voice message, Today; peeeeepppp: Elena? Here´s Stefan. Look, I thought about what I did and I apologize a thousand times. I love you Elena! Ok, I love you more than anything in the world and I´m begging you to forgive me! Please take me back!"

Elena just starred at her phone and then looked up in shock. This just couldn´t be happening!

* * *

_Yes, I know I´m mean. But what do you think, good chapter or not? Maybe you´ve noticed that Caroline´s character is a little bit different than in the TV show, but I just need her to be like that for the flow of the story ;)_

_Now, please leave me a review and tell me you opinion on the Damon/Elena scene or the end scene. I still can´t believe I managed to write even more than last chapter, even though with all the test we are writing at the moment at school, it took me a little bit longer…_


	4. Family time

_Thanks again for all the nice people who favorite, reviewed or followed (And of course read!) my story, you rock! After being done with all the test we wrote at school lately autumn holidays are coming up next week! I don´t know yet how much I´ll be able to write though! We are going climbing in Austria with friends and I do not think there is any Internet access, so I might write a lot in my free time, but only upload a bit later, when I´m back home. Please give me some more reviews and feedback for this chapter!_

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Chapter 4. Family time

"_I love you Elena! I love you more than anything in the world!"_

The tears started to run down her cheeks in the matter of seconds. Caroline immediately came to her bed and hugged her. Both of them were speechless. Elena curled up in her bed and looked at her phone in disbelieve. How could he do this to her right now? Stefan had been so cold when he broke up with her and now his voice was full of regret and love. Yes, she believed him that he loved her. Completely. And she loved him too, right? After the breakup she had missed him so badly, and now, when she now finally got over it he came back with this call!

"Oh Elena, this isn´t fair!" Caroline said concerned, "At first he treats you like he didn´t care about you at all and then he seriously expects you to just forget about that?!" She sighed angrily: "But what do you want to do? It´s all your decision, I will support you no matter what, but I really don´t like that it took Stefan so long to apologize! It has been over a month since you came here, what on earth did he do all that time until he _suddenly_ realized he misses you? Just saying!"

Caroline was right! He couldn´t do this, couldn´t just believe in her forgiveness! But then again, Stefan had never said he wouldn´t love her anymore, only that he didn´t think a long distance relationship would work for them. Maybe he did this just because he didn´t wanted to cause her the pain that their love slowly died because of the lack of seeing each other?

And he sounded so sorry! How could she just break his heart, and also with what explanation? Just cause she had met some good looking guy who made her head a little bit dizzy? After all she wasn´t a teenager, she was a grown up and she shouldn´t jump into the next relationship right away!

"I can´t meet Damon tomorrow Care. Not right now, I have to think about what I am gonna do first. Do you think he will understand?"

Caroline caressed her hand with a sad smile and softly shook her head; "Do you want the truth? I mean, I don´t even really know him but I don´t think so. It´s Damon Salvatore after all!

You know, back in Mystic Falls, no girl would have ever tried to flirt with Stefan, simply because we all thought you two were the most adorable and perfect couple ever! No one wanted to change that, even if someone might have liked him a lot, watching you two being so cute together was always more important.

But here it´s different. Damon could have every single girl on this campus and I don´t really think any of them would hesitate to jump into bed with him right away, right?

She had a point! Damon surely wouldn´t wait for her just so she could figure out if she maybe wanted to give her ex-boyfriend another chance or go out with _him_! Slowly Elena stood up from her bed, took her coat and went to the door

"He doesn´t deserve that! I´m gonna tell him right away what happened and then he can think about me whatever he wants." She told Caroline and went outside.

But then she remembered that Damon went away to take care of something only about half an hour ago. _"After he had nearly kissed me"_

Elena stood in the hallway, a little lost. She definitely needed to tell him right now, because every second of leaving him believe that she would date him tomorrow evening felt like betraying him. And then there was this ache in her chest. Like something was pulling on her inside heavily. Elena wasn´t sure if it was because she couldn´t try it with Damon or because she was stuck between the two boy´s. Probably both…

Some people were walking past her, laughing and talking. And one of them had red hair and pale skin, just like Damon´s roommate with reminded Elena again of what she had to do.

"_I really want to do this right!" _When he had said that to her, her whole body had melted into his touch. He wanted do to it right, do the right thing, treat her the right way. And what had she done? She had decided to tell him she couldn´t see him only because of a guy who had treated her everything but _right_ lately! That was nothing but incredibly selfish!

The next couple of hours, Elena tried to figure out how to tell him. The sky went darker and darker and when she finally stood in front of his apartment door she was nothing but a nervous wreck.

"Hey what happened? Are you alright? Please tell me what´s wrong?" He asked the second he opened the door, looking into her red, swollen eyes.

"I can´t come tomorrow, Damon." Now he looked even more worried, wrapped his arms tightly around her hips and tried to let his voice remain calm as he asked: "Why not Elena? Did I do anything wrong? Is it because I left this morning?" Before he could continue Elena interrupted him quickly:

"No, no don´t ever think that! It is everything but your fault. And please, don´t think I don´t want to go, but first I have to think about a few thinks, otherwise it wouldn´t be fair to you! If I go on a date with you, you should be the only one I think about."

"And I´m not? There is someone else?" He asked, slowly taking his arms back, folding them together in front of his chest.

Elena wanted him to leave them there. So badly. But he was right, this was horrible, and he had every right to be mad at her. But also he had the right to understand her reasons;

"I, I had a boyfriend before I came here. And, on my last day he broke up with me, out of the sudden. You know, we have been together for almost two years and just five minutes after we said goodbye I got a call from him. He said he still loves me and he wants me to forgive him.

Don´t think I would go back to him right away, that´s not what this is about! But two years are a long time, I can´t just whip it away and start something with you. First I have to know what I still feel for Stefan! I don´t expect you to understand or anything but please, Damon, don´t hate me!"

She looked him right into his eyes. Silently begged him to forgive her, to somehow be ok with this whole disaster. But he just raised his eyebrows, taking another step back; "I really don´t understand you Elena! At first you pretend to be so all crazy about me and now you let _that _guy ruin it entirely?! But Don´t even think I´ll make it that easy for you Gilbert! Even if you can just forget, I surely won´t."

And with that he just shut the door and left Elena all alone in the hallway.

* * *

On the next weekend, Elena still hadn´t made a real decision on what she would do. Damon had ignored her all week and Stefan had tried to call her for so many times, that she couldn´t keep record anymore. Even Caroline was at the end with her patience and didn´t really know what to say anymore.

So Elena made a plan. She was never the type of girl who would let her life be controlled by boys. And this was absolutely the worst time to start with such behavior! It was her first College year and this wasn´t supposed to have any bad effect on it! So today she would finally make her move and do something! Her bags were already packed, the car stood outside of the dorm building and the only thing left to do was saying goodbye for Caroline;

"Hey, Care please, not so tight! I´m only leaving for three days, no need to hug me like you´d never see me again!" Elena chuckled and softly moved herself out of Caroline´s embrace. Her friend sighed and shook her long blond waves. "I know, but are you really sure you want to do this? I mean what do you expect to happen when you´re back in Mystic Falls?" She worryingly raised her eyebrows and looked into Elena´s eyes, not even trying to hide her concern.

"To tell the truth, I have absolutely no clue what I expect! But what I know for sure is that I need to talk to Stefan. And that can´t be on the phone, I have to speak with him in person. Besides, after all I´ll be staying with my family and to see Jenna and Jer should be reason enough, right?"

Instead of an answer she received another (literally breathtaking!) hug from Caroline. "Don´t you make it too easy for him! And call me, I already feel lonely and horribly left alone without you!" She whispered into Elena´s ear.

"Oh Caroline! Don´t be so dramatic! Lonely? You already made more friends on this campus than I probably will in my entire life!"

After one last hug Elena finally made it out of the room and got into her car. Caroline had been right, she wouldn´t make it easy for Stefan. The only reason she didn´t just cross him and his phone calls out of her mind was their past. That she had been so sure that she had loved him. And yes – there was no question that she had indeed loved him. But how much of her feelings for him did still exist? That was what she would try to find out this weekend.

Sometimes Elena wished nothing more than to be like Caroline! There were many girls who wanted to be like Caroline, but for other reasons. Maybe because she was so pretty and popular, but that wasn´t Elena´s reason to be just a little jealous. Why Caroline often had it better. Her life seemed to be so easy. Some boys, some fun, nothing that meant too much but also nothing too complicated or too hurtful. Other than what Elena had.

But then, on the other hand Elena knew exactly that Caroline had her own problems. Her dad had gone off with another man a couple of years ago. He just left, his job, the town, all his responsibility but worst, he had left Caroline and her mum.

For years there had been not a single phone call, no e-mails or birthday cards! There weren´t many times where Caroline allowed anyone to see how much that hurt her and that – even if she tried everything possible to hide that – it had changed not only her point of view, but also herself.

* * *

After the next corner Elena could finally see the Wickery Bridge, the first houses of Mystic Falls and she couldn´t help to smile a little bit. This was her home, the place where she was born, where she had grown up. Everything she had ever felt, every time she had cried or laughed, falling in love and getting your hart broken, every single memory, no matter if good or bad, it had all happened here in this town.

When she drove past her old high school a tear escaped her eyes. It was only four month ago that she had been the one sitting on those tables outside, the one running towards the entrance door, because she was horribly late for class after she had secretly made out with Stefan and completely forgot the time. All those years that she had spent in this building, all the friends she had made in there, it all kind of rushed down on her.

With everything going on at college, she hadn´t ever really entirely realized what she had left behind and how much she actually missed it!

"I´m home." Elena whispered to herself as she parked her car in the driveway of the Gilbert´s house. It felt weird and a little strange. Mostly because she had to knock on the door to get in. On the day she went to college she had given her key to Jenna, thinking she wouldn´t really need it any more. But not being able to open the door, enter the house by herself reminded her that this wasn´t her home anymore.

But then Jenna´s scream of joy interrupted her dark thoughts and she hugged her aunt as tight as possible.

"Oh my gosh, Elena! What are you doing here honey? Why didn´t you call? It´s so good to see you sweetheart! You have absolutely no idea how much we missed you!" Jenna cried out in excitement and kissed Elena´s cheek over and over.

"I´ve missed you too Jenna! A lot. And I´m sorry I didn´t told you I would come but it was kind of a last minute thing, you know. Is it ok that I stay here for the weekend?" Elena asked, a little bit overwhelmed by her aunt´s unusual emotions. Normally Jenna was really cool and chilled, much more of a big sister than an aunt. But somehow seeing Elena seemed to make her loose it a little.

"Of course you can stay Elena! Jeremy is at his girlfriend´s house but he should be here in an hour or so." She smiled and they went inside, arm in arm. For a long time they just sat on the couch and Elena told Jenna all about college. Well, not everything. Things like boy drama was left out and fortunately Jenna didn´t try to push her.

When Jeremy came home two hours later Elena got to see one of his rare smiles and suddenly felt silent tears running down her cheeks. Her little brother looked so grown up and much too serious for his age. "Hi Jer!" she just said and then ran straight into her brother´s arms. He softly rubbed her back and chuckled. "Hi to you too! Seems like you missed home didn´t you Lena?" "Mhhmm!" Elena answered, her head buried into his shirt.

"Did Jenna already tell you her little secret?" He asked after placing a soft little kiss on her head. That caused Elena to curiously lift her head up to be able to look at her aunt, while her arms remained wrapped around Jeremy´s muscular body. Jenna lips pulled up and Elena noticed that little spark in her eyes she knew.

"Well, I only know it for a few days but I didn´t wanted to tell you those news on the phone so please don´t be made for not having told you yet. Alaric and I, we had some, ugh _dates_, and we had something like an on off relationship but it came out that the nights we spent together have some consequences. I took a pregnancy test and – bang – it was positive I´ve already had a doctor´s appointment and he assured me that I´m a 1000 % pregnant!" She busted out!

"Jeennnaa!" Elena screamed and went over to her aunt to hug her again. "Congratulations, that´s amazing! And what does Ric say to the news? Is he over the moon and ready to be a father or not? Are you two gonna move in together when the baby is there or what´s the plan?" She asked excited.

Jenna immediately blushed and Elena heard Jeremy chuckle behind her. She looked at them, slightly confused. "What?" She asked. "Well, I didn´t exactly tell him you know…" Her aunt answered, visibly embarrassed. "And, not only that, since she knows about the baby she refuses to meet with him at all, so that he is pretty angry at her and after they had a little phone-fight last week they don´t talk anymore." Jeremy added amused.

Elena sighed annoyed and scolded her aunt: "You do know how stupid that is Jenna?! He is the father of your child! And you clearly can´t hide it from him for very long! I mean, what exactly are you gonna tell him in a few month when your belly grows to at least twice of the size it has now? That you accidently _forgot _to tell him you were expecting?"

Jenna smiled sadly and shook her head. "That´s not how it works, I know but you have to understand that I can´t just go and say, _hey Alaric, you know what, if you want or not there´s a baby on the way and you made half of it so you´ll probably have to spent the next 18 years with me and him or her – minimum!, _I really can´t do that. It was an accident and of course I´m gonna keep this child, but I won´t force to take any responsibility. We´ll just see what happens in a few month, ok?"

Elena gave her a comforting smile and nodded. She clearly wasn´t the only one with relationship/boy issues. And at least she wasn´t pregnant, so there was _something _positive she could hold on.

"So, was that enough family drama for today or aren´t you done yet? Because I want to shower!" Jeremy said and Jenna gave him a little push. "Hey, not my fault ok! That´s only because of those damn hormones, they are killing me!" They all laughed but then Elena remembered what she wanted to ask Jeremy since he had come through the door.

"Jer, Jenna told me you were with your girlfriend. Would you mind to tell me who she is?" Jeremy just rolled his eyes and went upstairs.

"Come on little brother! At least tell me her name!" Elena shouted after him but the only answer she got was the loud "BANG" of the closing bathroom door. She turned around and looked at Jenna in disbelieve. "How dare he! I´m his older sister!" Jenna just smirked and went back into the living room; "Don´t take it personal! He doesn´t tell me either!"

They went into the kitchen and started to prepare dinner when Elena got another text message on her phone she quickly excused herself and went into her room. It was from Damon this time.

_Hey Elena. Caroline told me were you went._ _Have fun with your family. Don´t forget what I told you at my apartment! I meant it! D.S._

Elena smiled. She wouldn´t ever forget what he had told her. "_Even if you can just forget about us, I surely can´t!" _But why did he sent her that message? After ignoring her at college she had been sure he was nothing but mad at her! And now he seemed to want to remind her that she shouldn´t give up on them?! How weird was that!

The evening went by while Jeremy, Jenna and Elena were in the living room, watching an old movie that they had loved when they were little. Elena was lying on the couch, her head rested in Jeremy´s lap and they were just enjoying to be together while Jenna read a pregnancy-help book on the other couch. Elena looked at her family and everything else going on with her life lost a little bit importance. Right now she was here and happy and warm and comfortable. And all the rest could wait until tomorrow because there was no place or person in the entire world that she would rather be with right now…

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_Oh, I really like to imagine that scene! I just looove to write those cheesy family scenes! And also I really thought that TVD didn´t focus enough on how important it is to leave to college, and how big the change is (my cousin just left to college, so I was with her and she told me about what she felt when she left and I really wanted to bring what she said into the story!) Also, I finally did the 3000 word thing! How I love to finally have holiday´s and time to write! And about Jeremy´s girlfriend; I wasn´t quiete sure who I want him to be with! So please tell me who YOU ship with Jeremy! Or shall I just invent a completely new girlfriend? Please leave me a quick review to tell me…_

_ANOTHER add sorry; I guess everyone has noticed (: but just for the record, NO one is dead, but Elena and Jeremy´s parents, so Jenna, Alaric, Caroline´s dad and so on are ALL still alive (and that´s one of my favorite things on fanfiction, if you don´t like who dies on TV you just keep them happily alive in your story´s;)…._


	5. Decisions

Here in Germany, where I live, we are having a beautiful "Indian summer" at the moment. I just love the autumn and even that school just started again doesn´t really bother me, because it´s so nice outside! I kind of feel sorry for all the people living in Australia or California and don´t have a proper autumn with wonderful colored trees, wind and thunderstorms! – But now enough with meaningless chit chatting, let´s get on with the story!

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Chapter 5. Decisions

The first night back in her own bed Elena couldn´t sleep. It was a full moon and she was turning from one side to the other in the sheets. At about two clock she couldn´t take it anymore. She got up, took a pair of plain blue jeans and a pullover out of her drawer and quietly went down the stairs, trying her best not to wake anyone.

Once outside, Elena sat down on the porch stairs. Now, at the end of autumn the weather had gotten quiet cold. The sky was clear, dark blue and the wind was blowing. It was somehow peaceful. After a while, Elena started to walk towards the forest. On every other day she would have worried about dangerous animals or people or getting lost or something like that, but not tonight. Tonight it was like nothing bad could happen to her, like she had absolutely nothing to be afraid of. It felt weird, like a dream, but she knew for sure that she was wide awake.

Then she suddenly fell over something hard and landed on the cold, wet grass. Slowly she got back on her knees as looked down. What on earth was that?! After her eyes had gotten used to the darkness again she gasped. She was at the cemetery of Mystic Falls, right in front of the entrance gate. And the thing she fell over was the signpost. Someone must have broken it, because half of the sign was lying on the floor, while the other half was still standing about three feet from where she stood.

After Elena had gotten over the little shock, she walked on, passed the graves of hundreds of people who had all lived here, who had all been a part of Mystic Falls once. Of course she knew most of them – her grandparents were buried here, some of the relatives of her friends, Stefan´s Mother for example and also her former elementary school teacher, Mrs. Murphey, but most of them had been here, dead and hopefully in peace, for a very long time, some over 50 years.

And then she was there. She was standing in front of her parent´s graves. Memory´s started to flash through her mind, memories of how she had been here the first time, two years ago, with her brother, Jenna and of course Stefan. The funeral had been so very horrible. Nearly every single person in Mystic Falls had been there, all the people who had ever cared for her parents, who had known them from work or college or the founder community or from Elena´s and Jeremy´s activity´s.

The Pastor had said that would be just another sign how loved Mrs and Mr Gilbert had been, and that that was a wonderful thing. But for Elena it wasn´t wonderful at all. With all those people, there had been not a chance for her to really say goodbye to her parents. Everyone had been crying and saying what a big lost it would be. But Elena and Jeremy were the ones who lost their parents, not their dad´s golf buddy or Caroline´s mum or any other one of them.

But now she was all alone, no one would interrupt or trying to comfort her tonight. So Elena sat down and cleared her throat. She softly brushed over the rough material of her mum´s grave stone, a single tear falling down on it. "Hey mummy. It´s me, Lena. I´m so sorry that I didn´t come here earlier but…" She sadly smiled, "But I just couldn´t. It feels like something is ripping my heart apart every time I come here! You and dad, I miss you so much, I miss you, so, so, so much! And right now I have no idea how I´m supposed to live without you two. I mean I need you! You are supposed to be here, to give me some advice, to hug me and tell me that you love me and that no matter what decisions I´m gonna make you are gonna be there for me, no matter what! Sometimes I´m angry at you, do you understand? I´m angry that you died and I didn´t. How is that fair? Because it just isn´t, is it?"

"No, it most certainly isn´t at all!" A voice behind her suddenly answered. Elena froze, Her eyes went wide and she desperately thought of something she could use as a weapon. When a cold hand touched her shoulder she creamed with all the breath she had in her lungs: "Ahhhhhhh" , "Hey, sush, Elena, it´s me!" The man shouted, gripping her shoulder tightly and kneeled down next to her.

When she saw his face, Elena started to cry in relief. "I,I, I…." She tried but sobbed even harder then, "Stefan" she simply whispered, the tears rushing down her face. "Hey, cupcake, please, calm down! I´m sorry, I didn´t meant to hurt you!" He softly said, taking her face in his big, strong hands.

He softly started to caress her cheeks with his thumbs and she could see his eyes looking at her with concern in the darkness. Elena wasn´t really sure if his apology was meant for now or for everything that had happened between them, but it didn´t matter right now.

"Why are you here?" She asked, slowly calming down a little. "Jeremy called me, he heard you leave the house and after you didn´t come back he asked me if I knew where you had gone" Elena nodded, "And you knew exactly where I´d be going!" He just smiled at her and his eyes slowly wandered down, away from hers, until he was looking at her lips. For a brief moment she was about to give in, but then she stopped herself from doing something stupid.

"Stefan, no, I mean, …I can´t!" She carefully took his hands away from her face and squeezed them tightly. "What you did, it just wasn´t ok. It´s not that I really don´t want it or that I can´t forgive you. Maybe I already kind of have but you really, _really_ hurt me!"

Stefan looked back into her eyes, this time she saw the bitterness in them and it broke her heart. His hands pushed hers away and he stood up. "Ok, I guess I deserve that! As long as you can give me the chance to prove to you how much I love you…?"

He looked down at her and reached his hands out for her. Elena took them and let him pull her up to her feet. "I will," she promised, "but not tonight, Stefan. I don´t want Jer or my aunt to worry about me!" He nodded, "Then let´s get you home cupcake."

They left the cemetery hand in hand, but tonight not as lovers, but simply as close friends. "So how´s college? Tell me all the things I miss here in Mystic Falls." She chuckled; "Well, you certainly do not miss the food, the cafeteria is absolutely disgusting! And oh my god, the showers! Imagine, there are seriously _community _showers! It´s just…yuck! And we have that history teacher, you just have to look at him and you fall asleep immediately!" Stefan laughed and squeezed her hand again.

The two of them just smiled at each other. It had been too long since they last talked and Elena suddenly realized how much she had missed this. All those days, when they were sitting at one of their secret places, like the tree house down by the river or by the waterfalls up the mountains. All, those hours of their endless talks, laughing and just enjoying being together.

Even after what happened, Stefan was still the person she was able to talk to about everything and nothing at the same time. He would always listen and take her serious.

When they were standing in front of her front door, they hugged tightly and both felt like a huge weight had been lifted from their chests. "Goodbye cupcake" he whispered and she watched him as he walked down her street, towards his car.

When Jeremy opened the door he looked at her, concerned but when he saw Stefan, who was just leaving, he smiled understandingly. "Where did you go?" he asked as Elena entered the living room and sat down on the couch. "At our parent´s graves. I just felt like I needed to talk to them tonight. You know, at college I felt like they are even further away from me than usually! " She turned around, so she could look at his face,

"Does that sound very crazy?" She asked with a little, sad smile. Her brother walked over to the couch and sat down next to her.

"No Lena, it doesn´t sound crazy at all. I mean, It has been two years since we were able to talk to them at all, we had to grow up without them and even though I love Jenna and she did her very best, she couldn´t replace our parent´s! You are the older one, you are my big sister and I know that no matter what will happen and what problem I might have, I can always come to you and you will help me. I know that you are gonna take care of me, if I need and want that or not! But you, you don´t have that, you are the caretaker not the one who is taken care of, so you have it even harder than me. But please, Lena, I want you to know that even though I´m your little brother and you try everything so I don´t get hurt, I strong, so if you need someone, then, you know…"

Elena leaned forward and pulled him into a tight hug, "Yes of course Jer, I know and that´s very sweet of you! I love you so much Jeremy and you have no idea how happy I am to have you!" Jeremy softly pushed her away and looked at her, seriously: "Ok, that´s _enough_! Like, every time we sit on this damn couch we start to become absolutely ridiculous!" Elena laughed and together then went upstairs. But when they stood in front of their bedroom doors, they both hesitated.

"Hey, you two, come on!" Jenna called them from her bedroom and they both went inside. Jenna was lying in her bed, dressed in her old pajamas full of holes, that made her look like a hobo and smiled at them. "You two, inside, - now!" She demanded and after sharing an amused look, both Jeremy and Elena went to her bed and climbed under the sheets.

After their parents death, this was how the three of them had spent the first nights after the accident, all of them too overwhelmed by anger and loss to be able to spent an entire night all alone. It had been a silent agreement, and no matter how weird it might have been, it was the only way for them not to fall apart entirely.

And now, for the hours that were left of the night, they were here again, together. Jeremy looked at the two women who were lying next to him and laughed in disbelieve. "This is even more ridicules, I mean we are all _grown-ups!"_ He said but Jenna and Elena immediately pushed him, so that he nearly fell out of the bed (that was far too small for their actions) and just said: "Shut up Jer!"

* * *

When the sunrise came Jeremy, Elena and Jenna where all sound asleep again. But then the bell rang and interrupted them, rudely pulled them back into the real world. After looking at her little family, not making any intentions to get out of their cozy warmth, Elena sighed and got out of the bed. She was immediately freezing and ran into the bathroom, grabbing her robe and then down the stairs to the front door.

When she opened the door she was quiet surprised. There was a young brunette girl in front of her, looking at her just as surprised as Elena was herself.

"Who are you?" She asked, not even trying to hide the anger in her voice. It was five o´clock in the morning on a Saturday. What could that girl possibly want here this early?

"I´m Anna. I´m äh, sorry if I woke you, but, Is, ähm, Jeremy is he here?" She awkwardly asked, slight panic in her eyes. And then Elena understood. She smiled at the other girl, who was now completely irritated by Elena´s behavior.

"It´s alright, _Anna, _don´t worry about it! I´m gonna get Jeremy." Anna looked relieved but when Elena turned around to go back upstairs, she stopped her, shouted hastily. "Excuse me, but you are, you are his sister, right?"

Elena couldn´t hide her smile but assured her that she was absolutely nothing more than his sister. When she was back in Jenna´s bedroom she shook Jeremy´s shoulder until he opened his eyes, cursing and trying to push her hands away from him.

"Jer, come on, wake up! I´d love to let you sleep but there is a nice young girl standing on our porch and I´m afraid that she wasn´t very pleased when the door was opened by me instead of you." She saw his eyes open in slow motion, until he was looking at her, frozen. "You, you met Anna?" He asked, she could hear the panic in his voice.

"Yes, I did and if you continue to be so stubborn I´m gonna wake Jenna and tell that we have a guest. I´m sure she´ll like that! So, go, _now_!" Jeremy jumped out of the bed, hastily took his clothes and ran into the bathroom, even faster than Elena had been minutes ago.

Before she went downstairs to get some breakfast, Elena went to the locked bathroom door once again and teased him: "You know, she must really like you, if she is willing to show up here at five o´clock just so Jenna doesn´t see her. But I´m gonna tell you a little secret; girls don´t like it when the boy hides them from his family! Think about that!"

The door opened in a swift movement and nearly hit Elena´s face. But Jeremy didn´t even look at her, instead he just grabbed his bag and a few seconds later the door downstairs was shut.

Elena just yelled "Jeremy!" after him and couldn´t help laughing again when Jenna came out of her room, not yet sure if she was already awake enough to understand what was going on.

"You two are the death of mine!" Her aunt sighed annoyed. "It´s barely half past five in the freaking fucking morning! Are you out of mind!" With that she went downstairs and Elena, who was doing her best to stop herself from grinning, followed her. Of course, if Jeremy wanted to hide it so badly, she wouldn´t reveal Anna´s name, (there must be a reason why Jeremy didn´t want Jenna to know who he was dating, but she would figure out that reason later), but a little bit information certainly wouldn´t hurt him!

"I´m sorry Jenna, we had some ähm, _early "_what do I do when I have a secret girlfriend" issues. But I think we both – in different ways – made a statement!" Jenna just shook her head and grabbed a pan out of the cupboard. "You absolutely don´t diserve it, but I´m gonna make you a proper breakfast like I always did when you and Jeremy were still little visited me for the weekend. So sit down and be quiet.!" Elena followed her orders, but before she gave her aunt a kiss on the cheek.

After keeping her mouth shut for almost five minutes she couldn´t keep quiet anymore. "Jenna,…" she stopped, not really sure how to explain what was going on, or simply how to _start _explaining.

Her aunt turned around to face her. "Elena, I know that something´s going on since you came through the door yesterday. And I also know that you left yesterday to do whatever, I probably don´t even wanna know! So just shoot!"

Elena sighed sucked the air in, held it for a second, thinking about what to say. Then she let the air back out and started: "The day Caroline and I left to go to college, it was the night before that Stefan told me he wanted to break up with me just because he didn´t believe in a long distance relationship. And then, at college I tried everything to forget him. And, that´s what worries me so much, I found it much too easy to forget him. There was a guy, we met at a bar and immediately got along great. He is certainly the most handsome guy I´ve ever met in my entire life, and he liked me just as much as I liked him!"

Elena stopped for a moment, watching her aunt´s face closely and then continued; "I spent a lot of time with him, and, I liked it. I liked it a lot and it felt so right. I mean, It can´t be too wrong or bad when it feels so very good, can it? But then Stefan contacted me again, saying that he is very sorry and that he loves me and if I would be willing to give him a second chance. And…." She sight,

"and, I mean Stefan and I, we have a history, he truly knows me and I loved him for so long. And the problem, - _my_ problem isn´t even that I can´t forgive him, I´m pretty sure I can but it is just that I can´t forget Damon. I can´t forget how he smiles or how he looked at me and most of all I can´t believe how good it felt to be in his arms!"

With Elena buried her face in her hands, not even being able to look at Jenna. It was just so stupid and silly and she knew exactly that, compared to Jenna´s problems with being pregnant end everything that followed, what she was going through wasn´t at all serious but for her – for Elena it just was important, no matter how silly it might be to have boy problem´s that even thirteen year old high school newbies laugh about!

"Sweet hard, let me tell you something," Jenna interrupted her miserable thought, "when I was your age, I wasn´t half as good as you are. I mean," Jenna smiled, "I was pretty, I was spoiled rotten and I had much more self-confidence then I should have had! And if I would have been in your spot, if it was me to make that decision, I probably would have taken the opportunity to just toy with both a little. So, don´t you dare ever think you are a bad person while you make that decision! You are absolutely amazing in every possible way and whoever you decide to give your heart to, he´s the luckiest person ever! But just think of who you would cry after more. Who is the one you are sure you can´t be happy without. And who is the one you can spent endless time with, who can you bring here, in our home?"

Elena just looked at her in disbelieve. This was so not her usual "cool" aunt, the pregnancy must have changed her quiet quickly and not just a little!

"You look like an UFO! I thought I did pretty well!?" Jenna said to her, grinning. Elena started smiling and nodded, still a little speechless; "You were amazing! Wow, you should be pregnant more often! And yes, I´m gonna think about what you told me. But Jenna, do you think that I could eat my breakfast later? I really, really need to go right now, is that alright?"

She gave her aunt the famous "Elena-puppy-look" and Jenna just rolled her eyes; "Whatever, go. - And have fun!" she added.

Elena rushed upstairs to shower quickly and get dressed. She hadn´t really made a final decision yet but what Jenna had said, "The one she would bring home to her home rather", the answer to that question was simple. When she imagined a boy with her in their living room, it was Stefan, and no one but him. He was the one who could make her aunt laugh and who got along with Jeremy perfectly.

And it had been so hard for her to decide which boy she wanted more, but Jenna was right, what was important was the everyday life. Not the heated moments with Damon but the constant happiness with Stefan. All of those little moments, to cherish the small things, enjoy even the briefest moments together. All of that was Stefan. So – maybe she _did_ make a decision…

And after all, she had been completely happy and satisfied with him before, so who said she couldn´t be that again. Of course, he had broken her heart but everyone made mistakes, right? So, she would give him another chance. After all, everyone deserved a second chance!

Elena stepped out of the shower and looked into the mirror. "This is the right thing to do! It doesn´t mean that I do not have feelings for Damon, because I know I have. But I also know that my feelings for Stefan aren´t gone as well. And after everything Stefan and I went through, I owe to him, and also to myself, to act on those feelings rather than on the "Damon-feelings"."

With that she got dressed quickly and drove to Stefan´s place. His house was on the other side of Mystic Falls so it took her about twenty minutes and when she finally got there, she was all tangled inside.

What if this _wasn´t _the right thing to do? What if this would ruin everything? – But no, she had made her decision and now she would stick to it and make the best of it.

She rang on Stefan´s door, her hands shaking and she just hoped he wouldn´t be able to notice her nervousness. When Stefan opened the door he first looked very surprised, but then a happy smile grew on his face. And when Elena saw that smile she felt immediately better.

"Hey there cupcake, did you already miss me?" he asked her with a cheeky voice. "Mhh, I guess so. And I´m here because I´m gonna give you a second chance. I want to see if I can love you again like I used to. We were so happy and I really want that back, Stefan. So, don´t you dare do anything to blow this up!"

Elena told him, serious this time. He nodded, and then slowly leaned forwards, testing if she would push him away. But she didn´t, instead Elena closed her eyes, so he came even closer. And then she felt his lips. They were familiar, and it felt nice, good, like coming home, she had kissed those lips a million times, knew already how soft and warm they were and how nice it was. But all Elena could think about when she kissed him, was the spark and the fire that simply didn´t exist when she kissed Stefan.

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I can´t believe that I wrote this entire chapter in only 5 hours tonight! So please have mercy if there are loads of mistakes in spelling or grammar or whatever. I tried to do my best and now, I´m done with this chapter! So, if you want to make me a very happy person, please leave me a review….


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